The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 28, 2000
Filed:
May. 06, 1998
Robert Magnusson, Arlington, TX (US);
Preston P Young, Arlington, TX (US);
Dongho Shin, Arlington, TX (US);
Board of Regents, The University of Texas System, Austin, TX (US);
Abstract
A new class of vertical-cavity lasers (VCLs) is disclosed. Conventional VCLs contain an active region enclosed by Bragg-mirror stacks of 30-100 quarter-wave layers. The new VCLs can be fabricated without Bragg mirrors by replacing them with efficient diffractive (guided-mode resonance (GMR)) mirrors with much fewer layers, for example, two or three layers. This application provides optical power flow across and along the VCL gain region, thereby greatly increasing the laser efficiency and reducing the threshold mirror reflectance needed for lasing, relative to conventional VCLs. Theoretical and experimental results show that GMR mirrors exhibit high reflectance (theoretically, 100%; experimentally, in excess of 90%) in a narrow spectral band with well-defined polarization states. When incorporated in VCLs, the GMR mirrors yield single-mode, narrow-line, highly-polarized output light. The GMR-VCL is independent of any particular material system. An example fabrication process of GaAs-based VCLs includes molecular-beam epitaxial growth of the basic planar structure and multiple-quantum-well (InGaAs/GaAs for 980 nm wavelength) active layers, interferometric recording of the GMR grating, lithographic and reactive-ion-etch definition of individual VCL elements, and metallization and contacting. GMR-VCL arrays can also be fabricated; the diffractive element will phase-lock the individual lasers to produce exceptionally high optical power and coherence. GMR-VCL technology holds high potential to provide low-cost, high-speed sources for fiber optic communications and other applications.